The Photo Palace Bus is a project dedicated to the art of analog photography. Darkroom and presentation area are housed in a 35ft school bus and offer a range of educational and artistic opportunities.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Indiegogo Funding Campaign Launched

Well folks I did it. The new funding campaign has been launched and is currently on the way!

This time I'm using the indiegogo platform because the funding from them is not dependent on the funds reaching 100% of the goal. This does NOT mean that it's not important for you to donate what you can and to share it with as wide of an audience as possible. In fact I will do anything to convince you to do so - just ask.

When you take a look at it you may notice that this time I have no fancy video and the description is shorter and more concise. I think the fact that I actually completed the first construction faze and did the incredible journey this summer is going to carry some weight in place of a video. If you don't think that the journey was incredible indeed - try driving a school bus for 9.300 miles with no budget and get back to me with your thoughts.

I do think that the interview project that I am embarking upon is going to be great fun and will make an impact in this digital age by exposing the passion that film-users have toward this artistic craft. Yes - you read it correctly! I am proud of the fact that analog photography is a blend of art and craft - anything produced by hand with dedication of countless hours that are needed in order to perfect ones printing skills is a craft. It is the vision that is carried through and implemented via that craft by the individual photographer that makes this an art-form. I hope you share this view with me.

Aside from providing start-up funds for the second cross-country journey the success of this campaign will enable The Photo Palace Bus to gain a very important component of the original vision - namely the fold-out studio. I simply do not have personal savings any more to spend on it and am counting on the communal support. Of course a community is made up of individuals, hence You have to plug in and do something to help. That something could be a contribution of any amount that you feel comfortable with. Our individual places in society vary and while some scrounge about to get the next roll of film, others upgrade their Leica cameras whenever the newest model comes out. Think about it and do what you can. It would also help out tremendously if after you make that contribution you would share the link to this campaign with your friends and help it to go viral.

The fact is that the $10K that I am hoping to hit there will not carry Gilli and me too far - the studio will cost at least $4K, diesel is not back to $1.20/gal like it was in the 90s (and that's a real shame), spending even one night a week for 9 months at RV sites (which is where I large developing and printing sessions must take place) will add up to $2.500, the promised books and prints are going up in price as well... Oh yeah, unfortunately I need to eat too - hopefully I won't forget about that.

I will do my best to supplement the budget while traveling by selling my prints once again at rock-bottom prices and by offering workshops to the interested public. That is really how I hope to stay on the road until Fall 2013. I the campaign goes viral and the $10K goal that would truly be fantastic! Even if it doesn't - you know I'm good on my promises (after all Photo Palace was built after an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign from which I got very little funding in the end - I'm devoted and committed 100% to this as you may have gathered by mow). Every perk described there will be fulfilled.

Right now I feel like this Japanese lady - just waiting on the
train to come. Unlike this lonely lady I can not count on the train to
come - Japanese trains are notorious for keeping the schedule down to a
minute and this campaign is a wild shot in the dark... For those of you
interested in the details - this image was taken during my stay in
Japan using a Rolleiflex camera and Verichrome film

About

The Photo Palace Bus is a traveling darkroom dedicated to traditional photography. Its aim is propagation of knowledge related to historic photographic techniques through cross-country art exhibits, lectures and demonstrations.